Shaun Maloney urges Scotland stars to take their once-in-a-lifetime chance against England

Shaun Maloney: "It’s a fixture we haven’t had since 1999 so it means a lot with all of the history." (Image: Darko Bandic/AP Photo)

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SHAUN MALONEY has urged Scotland’s stars to grab their once-in-a-lifetime chance to write their names into folklore.

The Wigan ace walked straight off the Wembley turf yesterday after the Community Shield against Manchester United and immediately started preparing for his return trip with his country.

Maloney will be making his fourth visit to the famous arena this year.

Having played in the FA Cup semi-final and Final before facing United yesterday the 30-year-old knows his way around the place.

But this time it’s going to be different. Very different.

Maloney is fully aware of the wave of patriotism that will sweep under the Wembley Arch on Wednesday night as Scotland face England for the first time in 14 years.

Back in 1999, some of Gordon Strachan’s squad were still at school. And Maloney knows that with the Auld Enemy fixture no longer a regular occurrence this might the Scotland players’ only opportunity to go down in history.

Maloney said: “It’s a fixture we haven’t had since 1999 so it means a lot with all of the history and the fans coming down to Wembley.

“If it is another 14 years until the next game the majority of the squad will not be around to see it.

“We’re lucky to get the chance to play it and that makes us even more desperate to be on the winning side.

“Any Scottish side that wins at Wembley goes down in history.

“There weren’t too many games before 1999 that I remember. There was 1996, with Paul Gascoigne’s goal, which was pretty memorable.

“Given it was a vital game in the tournament you can only imagine what the players were feeling going into that one.

“I remember it vividly. The way David Seaman saved the penalty.

“In fairness, Paul Gascoigne scored a brilliant goal but it must have been hard for the players to swallow at the time.

“Now we have the chance to play against England at Wembley and when the final whistle went against United the focus switched straight to Wednesday and the magnitude of the match for the entire country.

“To play in it would be huge. It’s as big an international game as I will ever be involved with.”

Maloney is not the type for hype and the softly-spoken star isn’t in the business of whipping up a frenzy.

So when he says it’s big you can be assured the Scotland players are pumped as they get down to business in St Albans this morning.

Strachan has insisted he’s not viewing it as a friendly and Maloney said: “A lot of the England players haven’t played a competitive game yet this season so maybe they’ll see it more as a warm-up match.

“But it is very difficult for any Scottish player to see it that way.

“It probably means more to us than England but I would say that’s the case when Wales play England or the Republic of Ireland. There will be times when the passion will rise but the manager will be pretty strong in making sure we stick to his shape.”

Strachan, of course, once collected bits of the old Wembley turf for his garden but Maloney claims the manager won’t get carried away on Wednesday.

He said: “I think you would be surprised. However passionate he is he is pretty calm before games.

“He is actually calm the majority of the time unless you don’t do what he asks. I imagine it will be similar on Wednesday. He is pretty big on actually staying in the moment and not getting carried away.”

Strachan may not get carried away but he has genuine belief in the ability of his young squad to get a positive result.

The success in Croatia in June has proved to the group they can compete with the bigger nations.

And Maloney said: “Croatia gave us a shot of confidence.

“It was a step forward as we were well organised. We all knew our jobs.

“Playing England will be the same as Croatia in that they will have the majority of possession.

“But the manager will have a plan for us to hurt them when we do get the ball.”